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All parents and educators should make an effort to read this joint report released on Wednesday by the Human Rights Watch/ACLU.
Author Alice Farmer has done an impeccable job of interviewing students, parents, and educators in the top hitting states, Texas for the top number, and Mississippi for the top percentage of children struck.
This report has been featured on CNN and CBS Evening News, and news stations internationally.
I was beaten as a child and the only thing I learned was that violence is acceptable when applied to weaker people. My stepfather was lucky I let him live. It took a long time to unlearn this lesson.
This report has been featured on CNN and CBS Evening News, and news stations internationally.
Yes it has been featured by CNN, with an intentional intent to mislead people about what is happening in schools. I do not support having teachers hit children in school, but there are more pressing issues to address in our public schools.
Mommabear, can you clarify what is actually happening, as opposed to what the news stories and articles are saying? It looks to me that in states where corporal punishment is legal in schools, kids are being paddled. While I don't agree with that, and feel that the reasons for the punishment are absurd (chewing gum? playing with one's own shoes??), it is not terribly surprising to me.
Funny, I went to a public school that still used corporal punishment, and I turned out O.K. There was a list of rules by the Vice Principal's office, if you broke one of those you got a trip to her office.
I also notice that today, despite many schools doing away with corporal punishment, more students than ever are "disengaged from school." Back in the days of paddling, no kids brought guns to school, teachers had the attention of their kids, and we were one of the top educational systems in the world.
Definately a correlation to consider, even if it's not causation.
Mommabear, can you clarify what is actually happening, as opposed to what the news stories and articles are saying? It looks to me that in states where corporal punishment is legal in schools, kids are being paddled. While I don't agree with that, and feel that the reasons for the punishment are absurd (chewing gum? playing with one's own shoes??), it is not terribly surprising to me.
If you look at a state like FL you will see that CNN lists it as a state where corporal punishment is used "frequently". Most of the large districts in FL prohibit corporal punishment. By large districts I mean Broward (Ft Lauderdale), Miami-Dade, Duval (Jacksonville), etc..... So although corporal punishment remains legal in the state the vast number of students attend schools where the district does not use corporal punishment.
The CNN report indicates that there were around 7700 incidents of corporal punishment and the State has put out a report stating 5200. Even if we go with the CNN numbers, the school population of FL is around 2.6 million kids, meaning that the incidence of coroporal punishment in the state is UNDER .3% of the school popuation.
Does that sound "frequent" to you?
BTW-I don't approve of corporal punishment in school. I just think we all have to look at the numbers a little more critically than CNN reports them.
Funny, I went to a public school that still used corporal punishment, and I turned out O.K. There was a list of rules by the Vice Principal's office, if you broke one of those you got a trip to her office.
I also notice that today, despite many schools doing away with corporal punishment, more students than ever are "disengaged from school." Back in the days of paddling, no kids brought guns to school, teachers had the attention of their kids, and we were one of the top educational systems in the world.
Definately a correlation to consider, even if it's not causation.
Well I didn't wear a seat belt, nor did I wear a helmet when I rode my bike and I turned out ok. Does that mean it's ok for my kids to do those things? When our knowledge changes so should our practices.
This particular news article is not factual, as I've already stated in two previous posts.
It lists Texas as having 49,197 incidents of corporal punishment and that it is 1.1% of total students.
The report where the actual numbers are supposed to be compiled from adds up to 21,440 incidents which is less than 1/2 of a percent of the total student population in Texas.
Even if those numbers are indeed correct, less than 1/2 of a percent is a far cry from 'frequently'.
It doesn't matter whether you are for or against corporal punishment. It DOES matter whether what you are presented with is factual. This report is NOT factual. Period.
Well I didn't wear a seat belt, nor did I wear a helmet when I rode my bike and I turned out ok. Does that mean it's ok for my kids to do those things? When our knowledge changes so should our practices.
"And we didn't have AIDS drugs when I was a kid, and no one had AIDS. So lets get rid of the AIDS drugs!"
There are some technologies and improvements which obviously improve safety. But the evidence on corporal punishment, either in schools or at home, is refuted by the facts.
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